The present disclosure relates to visual analytics, and in particular, to a graphical user interface implemented as a dashboard with a navigation framework for displaying and interacting with visual analytics.
Unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Many users consume data for various use and business cases in the form of visual analytics organized in what are known as “dashboards”. The information displayed in a dashboard typically includes collections of visual analytics and other data arranged and displayed in a specific manner. The manner in which the information is displayed can be designed with work and information flows to serve a particular audience and/or purpose. FIG. 1 depicts an example dashboard 100 that includes a number of visual analytics 110 laid out in a particular manner. Dashboard 100 may also include a number of controls 120 for navigating among or interacting with the visual analytics 110. The particular contents of the visual analytics 110 and the layout of the visual analytics within dashboard 100 may have been designed specifically for a particular user, group of users, or business use case. For example, a manager of a sales team may want to see a number of visual analytics regarding the performance of the sales team. The manager's dashboard may be customized to show a collection of summary analytics that quickly convey information about the sales team's performance, like aggregate or total sales, sales trends, sales forecast, regional sale performance, etc. The sales manger's dashboard may also include a customized set of controls specifically designed to allow the manger to explore the information contained in the summary visual analytics in an organized and meaningful way that can help the manager efficiently consume, understand, and use the information included in the visual analytics.
However dashboards, like dashboard 100 and the sale manager's dashboard, are typically custom designed by highly trained information technology (IT) personnel who have in-depth institutional or industry knowledge of various data and work flows, as well as the necessary expertise using sophisticated dashboard editing tools. Most non-technical users, like typical business users, do not have the necessary skills or technical knowledge to easily design, let alone construct, an effective dashboard for themselves or others using conventional dashboard creation tools. Accordingly, the initial deployment, maintenance and update of dashboards or visual analytics are often an expensive and time-consuming endeavor.
Embodiments of the present disclosure simplify the process of designing and creating customized dashboards by providing a system and method for laying out dashboards in a way that standardizes navigation within and among dashboards that accommodates a wide variety of visual analytic types and business use cases.